Home at Last
by DisneyLover100
Summary: Repost as Oneshot: The continuing story of Spencer and Chelsea. Chelsea asked Spencer to move in with her. They move all of his items from his apartment and she finds out about Lila Archer. Takes place between Book 2: The Healing Continues and Book 3: The Support of Family and Friends. Originally posted as the first chapter of Book 3 now a sweet and fluffy one-shot of their move.


**Author's Note:** I'm sure it is obvious, but again as a disclaimer - I do NOT own Criminal Minds or any of its characters, but I'd love to. :)

This is a light and sweet story about Spencer moving into Chelsea's apartment.

All of the characters that I established in my first 2 stories continue here. This one-shot starts where the second book finished. I hope you enjoy this and leave reviews.

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Spencer had 2 months left on his lease and slowly moved his belongings to Chelsea's place. All of his personal items, including clothes, DVDs and favorite books were moved within the first week. Because his apartment lacked a lot of closet space or storage, he had only kept things he really wanted or needed and didn't have a lot of items to sort through. The majority of his stuff consisted of books and some of his mother's more expensive collectibles that Bennington had not wanted for liability reasons.

Chelsea and Spencer sifted through all of the household items in the small kitchen and linen closet taking only what would be useful at Chelsea's place. Chelsea had used 2 small tables as night stands, but insisted that they pick out new furniture with shelves for Spencer to keep some books in the bedroom and off the floor.

The only other new piece of furniture they added was a beautiful antique 4-foot long cabinet to replace a simple entry table by the front door. Chelsea had a few photos on the table and now a couple of Spencer's belongings were added to the collection. Although the switch was made for the functional addition of enclosed storage space, it fit perfectly into the room and looked like it belonged there all along.

Chelsea's place was much bigger than Spencer's and when they were going through the boxes of Diana's things, Chelsea was excited to display many of the items. Spencer let her choose what items she wanted to display and was smiling at all of her choices. When they were done, there were only a few items that needed to be boxed back up and put on the shelves in the office.

Most of shelves in the office filled up quickly. Chelsea used a few of them to store old case files and tax papers, but most were filled with books. Surprisingly there was still some empty space when they had finished unpacking.

Spencer contacted a local charity and had his bed, other unneeded furniture and items picked up for donation. With two weeks left on his lease the only things left in his apartment were his leather armchair, antique lamp, and writing desk. Morgan had an old pickup that he used for purchasing and transporting supplies when he renovated houses and had offered to help move the remaining items to Chelsea's.

When moving the writing desk, an entertainment tabloid stuck in a side drawer caught Chelsea's eye. On the cover was a picture of Spencer with his hand on actress Lila Archer's shoulder. The caption read: "A new man in Lila Archer's life". She picked it up and was staring at it with her mouth open when both Spencer and Morgan realized what she was holding.

Morgan started laughing out loud and said, "You still have that magazine?"

Spencer was turning several shades of red and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

Chelsea finally managed to close her gaping mouth. "Is there something that I should know, Spence?" she asked him, now smiling at Morgan's reaction.

Spencer was still trying to get a hold of himself and shock his head. "No, that was a long time ago. Nothing happened."

"Nothing? You still have this in your desk and you're blushing?" Chelsea teased.

Morgan was still laughing and could tell that Chelsea wasn't upset just curious. "Yeah _Lover Boy_, Why don't you tell Chelsea about your swim with the movie star."

Spencer was still unable to get out a complete thought. Looking at Chelsea he started "It was nothing really." Then turning to Morgan, "You're not helping."

Morgan laughed even harder at Spencer's discomfort. "Relax Reid, look at her, can't you tell she is teasing you? Or did your profiling skills vanish?"

Spencer took the time to look at Chelsea's face and could see that Morgan was right. She didn't look upset, but he still wished he had disposed of the magazine before she saw it.

"Morgan's right. I'm teasing you. I'm not jealous." She paused and conceded, "Well, maybe a little. It's not every day you hear your boyfriend had a fling with a beautiful movie star."

"It wasn't a fling! It wasn't anything. I helped her…" pausing to take a breath, trying to control his breathing. "We ALL helped her with an erotomaniac stalker."

Morgan was still smiling as he told Chelsea, "Yeah, we helped her out on a case and she took a shine to our pretty boy here."

"You're STILL not helping." Spencer said almost pouting. Which made Morgan start laughing all over.

Chelsea smiled as she interrupted, "OK boys, lets drop this or we are never going to get this stuff over to the condo today." She turned to Spencer, "Although I do want to hear this story. You DID keep this tabloid for over three years."

#

That night while sitting in front of the fire, Chelsea asked Spencer to tell her about Lila. She spoke softly and tried to look him in the eyes, although he continued to look at his lap. "You know everything about my past, what are you hiding? I know you can remember every picture and word written in that magazine, but you still kept it. There has to be a reason. You know I'm not going to be mad."

"I'm not hiding anything. It's embarrassing." He whispered.

She turned his face towards hers and looked him in the eyes. "You don't have to be embarrassed by anything with me. You know that. I really would like to know. It obviously was important to you. Start from the beginning. How did you meet her?"

Spencer told her about flying to Los Angeles with Gideon to give a seminar on profiling to the LAPD. They had a free evening before they were scheduled to fly back east in the morning. Gideon wanted to stop by a modern art gallery that had a showing that night and one of Spencer's high school classmates. Parker Dunley, ran the gallery. When Lila arrived at the gallery Parker introduced him and they spoke for a few minutes. "Of course I was nervous around a beautiful actress, I was even more nervous around girls then and I am now."

Chelsea smiled, "You're not nervous around me."

"I was the night I met you." He ignored her starting to interrupt and continued. "She was followed by a paparazzi photographer and she pulled me aside to go look at some of the art. I'm sure she picked me because I was the least threatening male in the room and she did later say that she thought I was different from the rest of the guys she met." He smiled, "I was probably the only NON alpha male in the room."

He picked up his Irish Coffee took a sip and looked like he was figuring out what to say. Chelsea sipped her own drink and waited for him to continue.

"I enjoyed the attention and was pinching myself to confirm that it was real." Smiling at the memory. "I didn't say much, mostly listened and answered questions. She asked what I did for a living and then asked me if I was profiling her. I was so nervous, and very socially awkward; I didn't understand she was teasing me until she told me. She kept asking me what I felt when I looked at each piece of art." Looking at Chelsea he continued, "You know I don't really get modern art and I was nervous and excited to have all of her attention; I really couldn't think. I was sad when Gideon told me it was time to go and I knew I'd never see her again, but I would enjoy the memory."

"From the picture on the magazine cover, you did get another chance to see her."

Spencer nodded, "Detective Kim picked up Gideon and me at the hotel to take us to the airport when he received a call about an actress that was shot. They had another similar murder a few months back and Gideon offered our assistance. I called the rest of the team on the way to the crime scene. Later when we were all at the LAPD office discussing the case, a man came in saying he had some information on the case. He was Lila's agent and she had received a note telling her that she needed to thank him, at least at the time we assumed it was a him, for his help. When Morgan and I went to talk to his client, I realized it was Lila. Because I had already met her and she showed signs of being more comfortable with me than anyone else, Hotch asked me to keep close to her while we were working on the case."

He paused and smiled, "Of course I would have protected anyone that was in danger, but I had developed a crush on her and Morgan had a field day calling me 'Lover Boy'".

Chelsea couldn't help but laugh at that. She grabbed him and kissed him saying, "I hope you can live with a non-celebrity girlfriend Lover Boy."

This time he was aware she was teasing him and kissed her back. After a few minutes, she pulled away and said teasingly, "OK, how did you protecting her become a swim with her?"

"Long story." He spent the next 15 minutes telling her about the case and how her assistant and good friend and been the unsub. "She had let herself in the house with her own key and was planning to kill her. I managed to talk her down and disarm her. Lila obviously was relieved and felt like I was her savior. A fairly typical case of transference. The next day we were all at the LAPD office finishing reports. When we were leaving the building she asked if she could call me if she ever was in the DC area or if maybe I'd call if I made it back to LA."

Remembering the tabloid, Chelsea said, "OK, that's probably where the paparazzi shot the photo of you that was on the cover of the magazine." He nodded. "Now I want to hear about the pool." She continued with a smile.

Under his breath he cursed Morgan and she laughed, but he told her the story. "The rest of the team was out tracking down leads. I told you she felt more comfortable with me than most of the other officers. I was helping her secure her home and going over some safety precautions that every public person should use. I probably stated way too many facts about stalkers, but anytime I apologized for scaring her she just told me I was doing my job. She was nice to me. I wasn't used to pretty girls being nice to me." He seemed off in his own thoughts for a few minutes, but Chelsea didn't interrupt.

"After we had checked all of the property and I felt it was secure, I called Gideon to get a report. She had gone back to her bedroom, but I was sure that it was safe so I didn't follow to see what she was doing. After I hung up, I noticed she had changed into a bathing suit and was headed to the pool. She said she didn't want this psycho to interrupt her life. I understood that, but I didn't think it was safe for her to be out in the open in the back yard. I tried unsuccessfully to get her to go back into the house. She wouldn't listen and kept asking me to join her in the pool."

He started to smile at the memory, "She finally agreed to get out and I thought I had made her understand the dangers. She asked me to help her, but instead of pulling her out, she surprised me and used leverage to pull me into the pool with her, completely dressed. At first I was upset because my gun was soaked. I put it on the side and she pulled me towards her. She kissed me and at first I was too shocked to respond, but then I kissed her back." He turned Chelsea. "It seemed like a dream. All my life girls like that had made fun of me. I knew it wasn't real. I even told her she was only doing it because I was there to save her, but she continued to kiss me."

He was quiet for a few minutes and Chelsea waited for him to finish the story. "We got out of the pool just before the team arrived so they didn't see anything, but the all teased me about the swim and looking like a downed rat. Later I told Morgan what happened and asked if he thought I should call her. Part of me really wanted to. It felt nice to have someone ask me to call." He paused. "But I decided not to. I told myself it was because she was a victim and what I had done crossed the professional line and it couldn't continue. But really I knew that all of it was in the moment and our lifestyles were so different there was no way she would really want to date me."

Chelsea turned him to look at her and said, "You really don't give yourself enough credit. You are an amazing person and because she spent time with you she figured it out." Then asked, "Did you ever talk to her again?"

Nodding he said, "Last year. She was scheduled to testify in front of Congress for an anti-stalking bill that was being proposed. First thing she said when she called as 'You never called me.' I recognized the voice right away, but was too shocked or shy or…" he shrugged, "something to answer. She then told me who she was and I stumbled all over myself telling her I knew that, but I was surprised and didn't know what to say. It was really awkward."

"What did she say?"

"She sounded like she believed me. She told me about her testimony and asked if I wasn't busy if she could take me to dinner. She was nervous about going in front of Congress and talking about her personal experiences. She was hoping that going out and talking about everything that had happened would help her focus and calm down. I told her yes and she asked me to meet her at her hotel at 7:00pm. After I hung up the phone I was scared and went running to talk to Morgan." He laughed a little saying, "I didn't think that one through. I don't think his teasing helped my fear."

Chelsea was suddenly upset at Morgan. "I know it was a year ago, but I'll happily go kick his butt. Or better yet, I'll figure out…"

Spencer cut her off saying, "He only teased me at first. When he noticed I was starting to sweat and stutter, he stopped and really was a big help. He reminded me that I had saved her and she really did feel comfortable with me before the case. He even told me that she had never even given him a second glance the entire time we spent on the case. She would only listen and stay close to me. It helped me get the confidence to go to the hotel, but of course I managed to trip when I saw her and barely said a word for the first 15 minutes, but I finally calmed down by the time the food arrived and probably gave her more information on stalkers and stalking than she ever wanted to know." he said smiling.

"That's a great memory. Have you ever talked to her since then?"

"No. She sent me a gift basket and thank you note at the office. You can image the teasing I got for that." He laughed, "I watched some of the testimony on CSPAN. Most of the witnesses were female, but a few were also male. There were 2 other actresses, but Lila was the most famous of the group. She didn't need to be nervous, she did a great job. I think Congress made a smart move having mostly normal citizens testify. Although the stalking cases that are reported in the news typically are about some celebrity, most stalkers follow regular people. It was smart to have a few celebrities to grab some attention, but not to make the proposed bill about that."

Chelsea nodded. "I think you should keep the magazine. I know with your big brain, you could pull it up to look at any time you want, but you kept it for a reason. It's your past and it's a good memory. You shouldn't toss it because you are moving in with me."

"I don't need it. It was a tangible reminder that for once I really did have a beautiful girl interested in me, if only for a day. But now, I have the most beautiful girl in the world interested in me for life and asked me to live with her. That's all the memories I need."

"This is the present and the future. That was the past. I'm not letting you throw away something that you held onto that made you feel good about yourself." Chelsea said, "We can put it back in the bottom drawer of your desk and like all of your Star Wars collectibles and the photos of you with your mom, it will be here as a good memory. Besides, if we do adopt some day, we can show our kids that a famous actress let you get away so I could be with you." She told him she was tired and pulled him up to his feet. She put her arms around his neck and slowly kissed him. As the kiss deepened, she pulled away and led him to the bedroom. The tabloid was soon forgotten.

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**Author's Note:** I just posted the first 2 chapters of Book 3: _The Support of Family and Friends_. It starts just after _The Healing Continues_ and this one-shot. It revolves around the episode _Faceless, Nameless_ when Reid was shot in the knee. In that episode it seemed no one cared enough to visit Reid in the hospital. This is my version of how the team and Chelsea took care of both Reid and Hotch.


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